Pain Management Associates wraps up closure process

Thursday

Pain Management Associates said Thursday its final remaining clinics will close this week.

The news comes after the embattled clinic announced earlier this month the closure of all nine clinics in the Carolinas, including its Spartanburg operation.

"Pain Management Associates has been conducting a coordinated and smooth transition of patients and their medical records over the past month as we terminate operations in South Carolina and at one remaining clinic in North Carolina," according to a statement from Mark Hubbard, a spokesman for Pain Management Associates.

Hubbard said the company's Florence and Arden, North Carolina centers closed on Thursday, along with the company's Anderson location closing on Friday.

"This will complete our closure process announced several weeks ago. Oaktree Medical and FirstChoice clinics have made patient care and the transition of patients to new providers our top priority throughout this closure process," Hubbard said. "Any patient who has not made arrangements for transfer of their medical records can pick them up before closing at their individual clinic today or tomorrow. We regret any inconvenience this transition has caused our patients, and we are disappointed we were unable to find a better solution to our financial challenges."

The company announced the closures in early August, which it said would impact some 23,000 patients and nearly 400 employees.

Three Pain Management Associates locations were the target of federal search warrants last fall. That action included the clinic locations on Skylyn Drive in Spartanburg, Grove Road in Greenville and Brushy Creek Road in Easley.

The company had also been at the center of lawsuits, including one complaint filed by the federal government in May. That suit alleges company ownership ran multi-year schemes to maximize profits at the expense of patients and federal health care programs.

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